With their new film “The Wolf of Wall Street” slated to hit theaters Christmas Day (December 25th), Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and director Martin Scorese pitched in on promotional efforts by covering the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

During their interview with the publication, the “Titanic” star chats about first meeting the director while the 29-year-old actor discusses his transition from comedies to dramas.

Highlights from the gentleman”s interview are as follows. For more, be sure to pay a visit to The Hollywood Reporter!

Leonardo On his first introduction of Martin:“I was in New York. I was 18 or so. I had just done “What”s Eating Gilbert Grape” and there was an afterparty at some bar downtown. You [to Scorsese] were there. I quickly bumped into you, and I was sort of paralyzed. And I just sort of stood there, and [you said], “Hey kid, I saw your movie. You did a great job. Keep it up.” And I just didn”t say anything.”

On his reasoning to produce films:“The whole motivation for producing films for me is to try to create and hone very specific material that I wasn”t receiving straight from the studio system, to try to craft characters for myself. At the end of the day, everything is about the material. The one thing you have to realize is, the material is king.”

On his most difficult part in the new biography crime film:“I had been thinking about them for seven years. But I had never had a monologue like that in my life — I mean, [one] went on for four pages. It was amazing. And there was such a lead-up to it, it was almost like an adrenaline dump. And I immediately got sick. I was supposed to get up there in front of 600 extras and give this giant Braveheart-like speech on greed, and my throat just seized up. I got strep throat.”

Jonah On his acting career:“I mean, I love all different kinds of films. I”ve gotten to express myself a lot comedically, and I like doing that. But opportunities like this are the greatest thing in the entire world, and it”s just about playing the character truthfully. There are ridiculous situations in this film that would be the same in a broad comedy.”

On his work with Leonardo and Martin:“The first rehearsals were just the three of us. For me, obviously, it was intimidating: This is my favorite director and my favorite actor, and now I was working with them. You have to check that at the door at some point.”